THE RED FINAL | est. 1993

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CHRIS CRIGHTON

FAVOURITE COVER The blunt image of Issue 132, featuring a prominent rude hand gesture overlaid on top of a collage of headlines from the Scottish football press. Various personalities linked to Rangers were urging Aberdeen manager Derek Mcinnes to move to Ibrox. The media’s orchestrated and intensive campaign ( which we referred to as ‘ Sevcobombing’) was an archetypal example of how the infrastructure of Scottish football is constructed to serve the benefits of the well- followed clubs in Glasgow. It ended with Mcinnes stating that he wanted to stay, calling for a strong and confident response.

STANDOUT MOMENT Selling The Red Final on the concourse of the Olympiastadion in Berlin, right under the Olympic rings at the venue where Jesse Owens defied the Nazis, was something – as was watching Aberdeen hero Neil Simpson performing topless karaoke in the Irish Bar the night before. MEMORABLE PLAYER/ MANAGER INCIDENT The most amusing evidence of TRF getting

recognised in the dressing room was surely when Alex Mcleish – by then long gone off the Aberdeen payroll – did a TV interview from the manager’s office of whichever club he was then at ( Motherwell, most likely). Among the papers on his desk was a copy clearly visible. I dare say we were probably quite complimentary about him back in those days...

MOST IMPORTANT STORY The real power comes from the knowledge that we as fans are watching, we have boundaries, and that if you try to cross them, we – your customers and your revenue supply – will not stand by idly. In that respect, the theory of fanzine influence is arguably much like that of nuclear weapons: the threat of its existence is sufficient to moderate behaviour, because if it ever needed to be used then it’s already too late. TRF is much less expensive than Trident, though – if an equally unpopular presence in the environs of the River Clyde.